Over the last 20 years or so, Southeast Asia and the larger Pacific region have become known for having some of the premier casino resort areas in the entire world. While Las Vegas in the United States may still be king in this regard, some of the most luxurious casino…

By Mark Sheehan Deforestation has been a serious global problem for several decades. Illegal logging has been happening for decades; wildfires and other disasters take their toll as well. Enforcing laws can be a dangerous game and reforestation cannot keep up. Drones are changing the way we combat these losses….

Guest post by Jewel Brookfield Here at Clean Malaysia we’ve already established the importance of implementing environment-friendly practices at home, be it through habits, design changes, or modern technology. It’s all important stuff, but we’d like to take a closer look at that third aspect – technology. After all, recent years…

Tourism is a vital part of economies in Southeast Asia, but much of tourism across the region comes with considerable costs to the environment. Popular destinations like beaches continue to be despoiled by the relentless swarm of tourists. Yet local authorities are often reluctant to limit mass tourism to such…

In Vietnam cats and dogs are often on the menu. Many Vietnamese consider the animals as a delicacy and so thousands upon thousands of strays are snatched from streets and numerous pets are taken from outside homes. The cates and dogs are then slaughtered, often with appalling cruelty, in specialist…

Some like raunchy ads. Others find them distasteful. These others, though, do not include rhesus macaques, apparently. So say a group of researchers, who have done a study with the well-known Old World monkeys and found that the primates reacted better to advertising with sexually explicit imagery. Seriously. In a special…

Borneo’s stunningly biodiverse forests have been shrinking at alarming rates with trees being felled unceasingly for timber or so that palm oil plantations can take their place. Yet it’s not just the island’s forests that are reaching a crisis point. So are the forests of the Amazon, which too are…

The scourge of plastic waste is blighting the environment in Malaysia and numerous initiatives aimed at weaning consumers off using disposable plastic bags have borne mixed results. Now comes another such initiative, this time by the British supermarket chain Tesco. In its “unforgettable bag” campaign, which has been set in…

Out of 112 tiger conservation areas in 11 countries around Southeast Asia and farther afield, only a little over a tenth (13%) meet global standards. Worse: a third of these areas are at risk of losing their tigers because of inadequate protection and poor management. This is according to a…

Last year officials of the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) rescued creatures belonging to 150 species. You’ve read that right: In 2017 wildlife officials handled nearly 3,000 cases of wildlife trafficking in which animals from a whopping 150 species, according to Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, minister of Natural Resources and…

Electric vehicles are the vehicles of the future as motorists around the planet seek to wean themselves off fossil fuels. Yet some kinks in technology will still need to be ironed out in order for electric cars to be truly efficient. And, no, it’s not only batteries that will need…

The endless stretches of palm oil plantations may please the eye of cultivators but they have been ecological disasters in Sabah. Across much of Malaysia plantations have replaced once thriving thick forests with monotonous ranks of cultivated palms where few wild species can survive. Some species like water monitor lizards,…

Hundreds upon hundreds of endangered animals perish on Malaysian roads each year. Thankfully, however, officials are doing something about it. In the works are more wildlife crossings in what is a welcome development. Such crossings alone, though, won’t solve the problem of animals ending up as roadkill while they try…

The world’s corals, Malaysia’s own stunning reefs included, are facing a host of environmental challenges to their continued survival as a result of manmade global warming and other harmful human activities. These include rising water temperatures, invasive forms of fishing like blast fishing, mass tourism and plastic pollution. Then there…

Drones, acting as eyes in the sky, can help protect forests against illegal loggers. They can help keep better track of wildlife. And they can also be used to help save endangered species. Like turtles. Researchers at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom deployed drones to keep a…

Much of plastic pollution comes from a simple source: plastic packaging. Plastic is a cheap and versatile substance that can be readily made and used. Then again, it can just as easily be dumped after a singe use, which has led to massive amounts of plastic waste befouling more and…

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Clean Malaysia is an independent online news site covering all aspects of Malaysia’s environmental landscape. We are dedicated to delivering news, analysis and opinions to both Malaysians and the international community. Our mission is to raise awareness of Malaysia as a tropical natural beauty but also to bring to light environmental dangers and encourage a debate about the future of Malaysia’s sustainable development.